Many applications require a user to simultaneously monitor a wide field of view, up to a full 360°. Generally it is a very difficult task to display such a wide field of view to the user in such a manner that he will, on one hand perceive the entire scene, and on the other hand inspect specific details within the scene. The limitations of human sensation, perception and cognition make it difficult for a human observer to simultaneously grasp/monitor/supervise a wide visual scene. The common manner by which a human observer overcomes such a difficulty is by scanning the scene, focusing on a section of interest while temporarily neglecting other portions of the scene. The portion of human field of view used for detailed inspection (fovea), such as for reading, is known to be limited to 1°-3° wide. There are various cases where the displayed scene is undergoing frequent and drastic changes that make the task of maintaining the a complete and continuous situation awareness very difficult.
Upon detection of an object or event of interest within the field of view, the observer is required to perform target acquisition, and then determine its relative position and orientation in order to handle it further.
There are various cases in which a control by an operator over a wide scene is necessary. One such example is the case when an operator needs to control a moving vehicle by understanding the surrounding scene as captured from a sensor on board the vehicle. In many cases, the operator needs to rapidly and efficiently react to changes in the scene. Another example is the case of a security control center where the operator needs monitor and supervise an entire area around a protected facility.
The prior art has tried to provide manners and visual aids by which a wide scene is displayed to an observer, in order to allow him to handle the wide view while covering the entire scene.
In the existing solutions of the prior art, the task of acquiring the target is difficult and lengthy because the observer is required to “calculate” in his mind the real-life position of each target of interest, which often includes complicate cognitive tasks.
Several prior art publications have tried so far to overcome said difficulties, by providing a manner of display with visual means. Such prior art solutions are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,149,367, 6,285,365, 6,700,711, and 6,144,501. Other publications that teach various aspects that relate to the display of a panoramic view are disclosed in WO/98/47291, EP 1,182,465, and Yingjie Sun et al “an object tracking and global localization method using omnidirectional vision system” Intelligent Control and Automation, 2004, WCICA 2004, Fifth World Congress on Hangzhou, China, 15-19 Jun. 2004, IEEE, US vol. 6. 15 Jun. 2004, pages 4730-4735. However, the solutions that have been provided so far do not sufficiently reduce the complexity of detecting and acquiring objects within the scene on one hand, and maintaining a good situational awareness of the entire scene, without overloading the viewer.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a display of a wide visual scene to an operator.
It is another object of the present invention to provide the operator with such a wide scene display which enables him to easily monitor the entire scene.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a wide scene display which enables to easily and efficiently detect and acquire objects or events of interest within the displayed scene.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide the operator with such a wide scene display which enables him to efficiently maintain continuous high level of situational awareness of the entire scene.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide the operator with such a wide scene display which enables him to efficiently monitor several concurrent objects of interest within the scene.